Bypoll: 22 pc voting in first 5 hours in Rajkot
Polling is underway today for Rajkot (West) Assembly seat by-election where 22 per cent voter turnout was registered during the first five hours, officials said.
"In Rajkot (West) Assembly seat by-polls, 22 per cent voters turnout has been recorded during the first five hours," Returning Officer in Rajkot (West) seat, B R Chaudhary said.
The Assembly seat fell vacant as sitting MLA Vaju Vala resigned after he was appointed as the Karnataka Governor.

Man gets 8 years jail for abducting and raping woman
A local court has awarded eight years rigorous imprisonment to a man for abducting and raping a woman in Baghra village here in 2012.
The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the accused Bablu for the crime, according to prosecution.
Additional district sessions judge, Mohd Ali, convicted Bablu despite of all the eye-witnesses turning hostile.

Delhi-based financier's body found in car trunk
A 70-year-old Delhi based financier was strangulated by three youths and his body was found in a car trunk in Shamli district, police said today.
The body of Ratan Chandra Papneja was recovered from a car during a regular patrolling at Shamli-Muzaffarnagar highway yesterday, they said.
Three persons, identified as Promod, Rohit and Gaurav, were arrested by Babri police in this connection. The perpetrators said to have confessed about the crime.

Bihar witnesses rain due to cyclone 'Hudhud'
State capital Patna and many other districts of Bihar today witnessed rain as an impact of cyclone 'Hudhud' but there was no report of casualty so far.
Patna and rest of Bihar experienced light to moderate rainfall as impact of Hudhud cyclone, Director State Meteorology department R K Giri told

Talks with Pak only 'without shadow of terrorism': India
India has said that serious bilateral dialogue can happen only "without the shadow of terrorism" as Pakistan raked up the Kashmir issue at the UN.
The forthright Indian stand was put forward at the Fourth Committee meeting in UN General Assembly on decolonisation issues on Friday when the Pakistani delegate raised the issue.

BJP asks Congress not to politicise ceasefire issue
Attacking Congress for "indulging in politics" over ceasefire violations in run up to Haryana and Maharashtra elections, BJP today demanded Congressmen to look into their own track record during the UPA regime.
Briefing newspersons, senior BJP leader and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu urged Congress not to politicise the issue as the matter was related to defence of the country.
"My suggestion to Congress is not to politicise this issue. Do not do politics over this...

Pak PM wants India to immediately halt firing
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said India should not misunderstand his desire for peace and immediately halt firing across the borders.
Sharif asked India to immediately honour the sanctity of Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border and stop firing for durable peace, the Dawn reported.
He was addressing a high-level National Security Committee meeting attended by select cabinet members, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the three services chiefs and...

AP makes evacuation arrangements against 'Hudhud'
The Andhra Pradesh government has made all arrangements to evacuate people in low lying areas of coastal districts to safer places as it braces to face the cyclonic storm and mitigate its impact to minimise damages.
Deputy Chief Minister K E Krishna Murthy said all collectors of coastal districts have been instructed to be watchful and monitor the progress of the "Hudhud" cyclone and take all precautionary measures.

Fresh report on Sunanda's death inconclusive: Delhi Police
The fresh report submitted to the police by AIIMS doctors on the reasons for the death of Sunanda Pushkar is "inconclusive", according to Delhi Police and it may now go for advance forensic tests.
Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi also dismissed suggestions that police had been lax in collecting evidence and that the probe should be handed over to CBI, asserting that the force was "competent" to handle the case.
"The forensic report is inconclusive.

Tendulkar likely to attend Air Force Day parade tomorrow
Retired Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, the first sportsperson to be made honourary Group Captain in the Indian Air Force, is likely to attend the IAF Day parade tomorrow.
"He has been invited and there are indications that he will attend," an IAF official said on the eve of the 82nd Air Force Day celebrations in Hindan near here.

Defence Minister Jaitley deplores Pakistan ceasefire violations, says forces ready
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley today deplored the ceasefire violations by Pakistan and said the Indian armed forces were "fully ready" and are responding to each of these provations from across the border.
He told Pakistan that it should realise that the kind of environment it was generating between the two countries was certainly not going to help in normalising relations.

"Support to Swachh Bharat no endorsement of BJP agenda"
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has made it clear that his acceptance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to support the "Swachh Bharat Mission" does not imply that he endorses BJP's "core Hindutva" agenda and he remains a "proud Congressman."
"I am astonished that anyone would suggest that I am pro-BJP.

No exchange of sweets between India and Pak at Wagah on Eid
With tension prevailing on the border, the traditional exchange of sweets between the troops of India and Pakistan along the Wagah border in Punjab on Eid has been called off.
Official sources said during a late evening flag meeting between the sector commanders of the Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers yesterday, the other side refused to fix a proper time for the ceremony to be held today

Modi clear about forging good ties with neighbours: Swaraj
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "very clear" priorities to forge good relations with neighbouring countries as part of his "fast track" diplomacy.
"Even before taking oath, Modi's priorities of good relations with all neighbours were very clear with all the SAARC heads being invited to the swearing-in ceremony," Swaraj said.

Govt seeks AG's opinion on need for Ordinance on coal blocks
The Coal Ministry has sought the opinion of Attorney General on whether the government needs to bring out an Ordinance to deal with the issues arising from the Supreme Court decision to deallocate coal mines.
The issues that need to be resolved by the government in the coal mine case include forfeiting of bank guarantees and title deeds of the land mines purchased by the companies, sources said.

BJP condemns Pakistan for ceasefire violations
BJP today condemned the firing by Pakistan at Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) and said the defence forces have been tasked to give an appropriate reply.
"We condemn this. Whatever is needed to be done, it is left to the defence forces," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here when asked about the cross-border firing by Pakistan.

Pakistani troops violate ceasefire again
Violating the ceasefire for the 10th time this month, Pakistani troops today opened heavy fire on Indian posts along the LoC in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Army troops guarding the borderline with Pakistan effectively responded to the firing.
"Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire by resorting to unprovoked and?heavy firing on Indian forward posts along LoC in Balnoie sub-sector of Poonch?district around 0800 hours", Defence Spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta?said...

Pak Taliban switches side; vows to send jihadists to help IS
The Pakistani Taliban has switched allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which has been vying for supremacy with the al-Qaeda in the region, and vowed to send jihadists to help the ruthless terror group.
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) headed by fugitive Mullah Fazlullah issued a statement yesterday ahead of Eid ul-Azha, expressing support for the ISIS or IS, which has captured a swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

J-K govt announces tax sops to flood-affected businessmen
Jammu and Kashmir government has announced a slew of concessions to the flood-affected businessmen with a view to give immediate succour to the community and bring on the track the economic activities.
The relaxations were considered after detailed meeting with the State Economic Reconstruction Forum (SERF), a trade body formed in the aftermath of the floods, by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather the other day, an official spokesman said.

US is our natural global partner: Modi
Describing America as India's "natural global partner", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the complementary strengths of the two democracies can be used for inclusive and broad-based development to transform lives across the globe.
"The US is our natural global partner. India and the US embody the enduring and universal relevance of their shared values," Modi wrote in an op-ed in the The Wall Street Journal.

Army hospital saving lives as health infrastructure crumbles
At a time when almost the entire healthcare infrastructure in Srinagar city has been rendered ineffective by the devastating floods, the Army's 92 Base Hospital here has saved the lives of more than 300 people including 35 newborns.
The army doctors without caring about their own houses and families affected by the floods have been working day and night at the 600-bed facility, the biggest army hospital in the entire Kashmir Valley.

SRK crosses 9 million followers on Twitter
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has crossed 9 million followers on micro-blogging site Twitter.
The 48-year-old actor is now the second most followed Indian actor on Twitter after megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who has 10.4 million followers.
The 'Chennai Express' star joined the site in July, 2010 and has since shared 7,718 tweets. His contemporaries Salman Khan and Aamir Khan lag behind with 8.26 million and 8.45 million followers respectively.

Typhoon Kalmaegi kills 8 in China
The death toll in the heavy rains triggered by typhoon Kalmaegi rose to 8 today, even as nearly 400 students were rescued from an inundated school in China's southwestern Yunnan province.
Heavy rains caused by the typhoon, which is the fifteenth typhoon to hit China this year, since Wednesday have flooded 53 counties and cities in Yunnan, leaving 390,000 people affected and resulting in an economic loss of USD 55.86 million.

ONGC to begin oil production from KG block in 2019
State-owned ONGC's significant oil discovery in Bay of Bengal will begin production in 2019, with a peak output of 4.5 million tonnes a year, 20 per cent more than previous estimates.
The oil discovery in Krishna Godavari basin block KG-DWN-98/2 or KG-D5 will be the first large oil production from the east coast. The block also has 10 gas discoveries.
"We are moving fast on KG-D5 development.

Indian male cagers off to winning start in Incheon Asiad
Indian male cagers started their Asian Games campaign on a resounding note, thrashing a lowly Palestine 89-49 in their opening Group B encounter at the Hwaseong Sports Complex Gymnasium, here today.
India dominated Palestine in all the four quarters with Amjyot Singh turning out to be the highest scorer for the formers with 25 points.

Kejriwal, 3 others put on trial in defamation case
Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan and two others were today put on trial by a court here on charges of defamation in a complaint filed by ex-Telecom minister Kapil Sibal's son Amit Sibal.
Metropolitan Magistrate Sunil Kumar Sharma framed charges against Kejriwal, Bhushan, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia and Shazia Ilmi, who has quit the party, under section 500 (defamation) of the IPC.

Abducted Naga social worker found dead in Manipur
The body of an abducted Naga social worker was recovered from an interior area of Imphal East district of Manipur, police officials said today.
The body of Ngamreishang Ningshen, former Vice-president of Tangkhul Katamnao Saklong (TKS) which is an important Tangkhul Naga civil organisation, was recovered from Thayong village area yesterday.